Secondhand Summer

by Dan L. Walker

"Secondhand Summer" begins in Ninilchik, a tiny Alaskan community where the Barger family fishes for salmon. The father's death forces a move from their homestead to an apartment in a poor section of Anchorage. Written in the first person and based on the author s own experiences, the tale is about Sam, a fourteen-year-old boy who loved the homestead fishing life he left behind. Like most kids his age, his physical abilities and his imagination exceed his judgment and knowledge.

The story focuses on the boy s adventuresome adjustments to the big city, the loss of his father, and becoming a teenager. Sam s new friends lead him on forays into vandalism, petty theft, and trespassing. An abandoned nightclub, which Sam and his friends take over as their fort, absorbs Sam s attention and energy as an escape from an adult controlled world, but his time runs out when the teenagers take over. By the end of the summer, Sam loses his club, one of his new friends, and his idealism, leaving him feeling forever changed as he enters seventh grade, both wilder and wiser."

170 pages, Hardcover

First published June 7, 2016

About the author

Dan Walker is a homesteaders’ son who grew up to become a teacher and a writer. He spent most of his life in Alaska but went to college in Idaho and spent a year in Texas one summer. Dan has over thirty years in education and was named Teacher of the Year for Alaska in 1999. Today, Dan shares life on a lake near Seward Alaska with his college sweetheart and muse, Madelyn. His debut novel, Secondhand Summer, was released in June 2016.
His second book, a memoir, was released in 2018.
The sequel to Secondhand Summer, BACK HOME, was released in April.

Reviews

[Rebecca A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teacher of the Year for Alaska 1999, Dan Walker has crafted a book with heart. Think of Stand by Me in Anchorage, Alaska, 1965. Excellent reading for tweens and up. Walker's heart is BIG, and his writing takes us back, to when 14 years old was an immensely large and innocent place.

[T.C. Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Secondhand Summer has many things going for it that make it a great book, especially for those in their early to mid teen years. This book takes place in Alaska, which I find extremely refreshing when compared to a lot of other YA books that are written in other places like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, etc. This is refreshing because you get to see the story of a young boy be forced to move from a very small town on the water to a big city. Sam, the boy in the story, has to experience life's hardships first hand. But, even after the death of his father and the big move to Anchorage, he doesn't give up his interest in adventure. He just simply does it in a different location. Sam, along with a few new friends he makes in the city, learn lessons on the pecking order of kids and teenagers and he also experiences what a city really is; from rail cars, to abandoned buildings, more people, and even fashion. Sam and his friends discover their clubhouse, only to have it taken away from them quite forcefully. I think knowing how Sam grows up and deals with high school will make a lot of readers happy. This was a book that takes you on a heart-felt adventure with a young boy in a big city.

[David Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

There’s a stark beauty to be had in Secondhand Summer. A boy loses his father, and is forced to move to the big city of Anchorage, which, based on the vivid depictions of Dan Walker, is the kind of city that a father would be essential in order to navigate the morally questionable people, settings, and dilemmas faced by a boy just trying to fit in and make some friends.
Walker expertly tells story through the eyes of a young teen. The emotions and trials of the protagonist are poignantly written and serve a reminder of what it was like to be a kid trying to figure things out.
While the story takes place in Alaska, universal themes of loss, maturation, compromise, and struggle are intertwined through each page. Secondhand Summer accomplishes the feat of being a rare crowd-pleaser, being comprehensible and fast-paced for kids and complex and emotion-filled for adults, while being entertaining and relatable for all involved.

[Aisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book because the author was at Barnes and Nobles in Anchorage recently doing a book signing for his latest release. It seemed like the busy B&N clientele didn’t appreciate a local writer and it bothers me when artists “put themselves out there” and I see customers walking by not even smiling or acknowledging this person standing there ready to talk to people. The table was right up front at B&N so I went over and said hi and grabbed some of the advertising materials. This book looked like something my boys could read.

As I read it was very natural to imagine a voice (like in The Christmas Story) narrating. It really is a very likable story about loss, grief, friendship and coming of age during a slower pace (during the 60’s). The author was an Alaskan Teacher of the Year. There are discussion questions in the back.

[Laura Witham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put this book down! The best way to describe it is an Alaskan version of "The Outsiders". It started off a bit slow, but then it was action-packed the rest of the way through.
A young boy, born and raised on a homestead in Ninilchik, AK is uprooted along with his mother, brother, and sister after the death of his father. They are forced to move to Anchorage where his mom can find work to support the family. His experiences in his first summer living in the Government Hill area of Anchorage are packed with excitement, adventure, mischief, and sadness. This is a Coming of Age tale that promises to keep you turning the pages! It's a short read, but an AMAZING read!
I read up a little bit on this author and as a teacher who's passion is inspiring young minds, he wrote this book in the hopes that it would engage the younger male audience, a demographic most reluctant to read. I am a female in her early forties and I was absolutely HOOKED, but I can totally see how this would be a book that would engage the younger male audience. I can also see this being one of those stories that a young person would read and remember for the rest of their lives.
I found this book when I met the author at a Christmas bazaar I attended in 2022. He was selling this book and the follow-up called "Back Home". I can't wait to start on that book! If Back Home is as good as Secondhand Summer and I have no doubt it will be, I'll be reading EVERYTHING this man writes from now on!

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It is set in the very neighborhood where I "grew up" (ages 9-18), which I found fascinating. The author is a former middle school teacher who lived on Government Hill during his youth and currently resides in Seward, Alaska.

I thought it was well written, told a good story and had some great morals. The book is somewhat autobiographical. This was one of four books read during fall of 2022 as part of Ole' class, Forever Young (Adult), lead by Cheryl Lovegreen. The author participated in our Zoom class about the book, sharing some of the history behind the book. He was interesting, approachable and very down to earth.

The author has written two sequels to "Seondhand Summer"--one of which has been published--"Back Home". He has also written and published a family memoir, "Letters from Happy Valley".

One descriptive paragraph that I was impressed with:
"That day we were so amazed to be riding in this new fast car that Mary and I didn't even fight. I just lay against the vinyl seats and drew in that sweet new car smell. The aroma carried me off into a fantasy with me behind the wheel of my own car, cruising the endless highway of the American West, a highway that flowed over the desert like a black river of freedom." (pf 84)

[Rachelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extra book #38... not for the EBN Challenge at my library.

I should not be allowed to write summaries when I am sick. I almost summarized the wrong book entirely here.

Sam is 14 years old and has just lost his father. Now he has to move to the big city from a small fishng village and learn how to navigate the waters of life in a new way, just as he was starting to become a man to the life he knew.

This was a great tale from Sam's perspective about loss and moving on.

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very "Hatchet"/ "Stand By Me" kind of vibe but set in Anchorage. This has been on my to read list for years and was better than expected.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very well written coming of age story about a boy making new friends after he moves to the city after his dad's death. The characters and feelings are very timeless. However, this means that the setting (Anchorage) and the time period (1965) isn't really relevant to this story. Therefore I don't think I would recommend this for social studies instruction. But it's worthy of the classroom library.

[Judy · Rating 1 out of 5]

probably of most interest to someone familiar with Anchorage

needs an editor

[Lynn Lovegreen]

Excellent look at the Kenai Peninsula and Anchorage, AK in the 1960s through the eyes of a teenage boy-- Sam grieves for his father and moves to the big city of Anchorage, where curiosity and the wrong friends get him into trouble on a regular basis. But experience and a few good people lead him to become a better person.

My favorite part, outside of the Anchorage history, was his obsession with girls and cars--made me understand boys on a different level to see it from his point of view!